Impact of Systems on Health Equity

The NAM Culture of Health Program held a meeting on March 9 and 10.

The objectives of this meeting included:

• Announcing the development of the Systems Impact on Historically and Currently Marginalized Populations publication under the NAM Culture of Health Program.
• Discussing the significance of understanding the history and systems impact of oppression, racism, and widening racial health disparities in light of current social and political contexts.
• Highlighting the social construction of race and ethnicity, describing the shifting definitions of race and ethnicity over time, and elevating how existing racial and ethnic definitions can cause harm and misrepresentation of diverse populations.
• Describing how structural and systemic racism moves through systems to drive health outcomes, and providing illustrative examples of levers of systemic change for advancing health equity within and across racial and ethnic populations.
• Providing an overview of the publication series and development to date, and discussing challenges, opportunities, and potential impact.

The Culture of Health Program is a multiyear collaborative effort to deepen understanding, mobilize evidence, and identify strategies to create and sustain conditions that support equitable and good health for everyone living in the U.S. To achieve this mission, the program has four aims:

• LEAD: Build, inform, and elevate the evidence-base on health equity
• ENGAGE: Facilitate the collaboration of key stakeholders working to accelerate health equity from communities to policymakers
• TRANSLATE: Communicate the evidence in a timely and culturally-informed manner to bridge science to action to accelerate health equity
• SUSTAIN: Ensure long-term commitment and progress to accelerate health equity

Learn more at nam.edu/CultureofHealth.